A Long Road Through Hell
by errihu
Summary: A Human warrior woman must team up with a Blood Elf mage to escape a devastated world controlled by demons. Original characters. Bowdlerized version.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Well shit, that definitely looked like what the dwarf described.

Laina hunkered down behind some twisted scrap, ignoring the dead gan'arg not three feet away. She'd made it that way, no more threat there. Ahead, she could see her intended target – a black, spikey structure built around a glowing green floor, exposed on all sides. A wave of fel-green energy pulsed up and down in the centre.

Somewhere, off to her left, she could hear demonic voices shouting, and the hissing sound of a warlock's rain of fire. Apparently the 'lock she'd spotted earlier on her way into the scrap field had some designs on the camp himself, as well. Laina thought it fortunate – the psychotic idiot was distracting enough of the demons that she could get up to her target undetected. She didn't mind a fight, not by any means, but she was far more likely to get out of here alive when the thing went sky high if she hadn't already been injured.

Looking to see if the coast was clear, she checked her bag once more to make sure the demolition charge was near the top (these magic bags were mighty useful, but sometimes it was too easy to grab the wrong thing), then hustled off towards the structure, as quietly as someone in plate could. There were no shouts of alarm, no indications that anything had seen her. She ducked down in a spot somewhat sheltered from view – perhaps the grotesque architecture favoured by the demons had something going for it afterall.

She placed her sword down in the purple dust nearby, close enough to grab if trouble came. She'd need both hands and a lot of concentration for this work. Laina quickly extracted the bomb from her pack and placed it on the ground, examining it.

"What was it that dwarf said… connect the red wire first, or last? Fuck. Where's that instruction sheet…" Gods, she didn't have time for this. At least the pay was going to be worth it.

"Fuck!" she swore, a little louder than she intended. A quick check ensured nothing was near to hear her. The Light-fired instructions were in Goblin! Oh well, there were pictures…

It took a moment for Laina to decipher the drawings, but she did it. Then she looked back at the device. Alright, it was facing up at least, that's a start. She searched the bomb, looking for the first wire. There it was! A quick motion and it was in place. Good…

The second was no problem, but the third was a little confusing. Did that symbol indicate that the wire should NOT be connected there, or that it SHOULD be? Laina paused. This was not an error she could afford, not when she was playing with goblin explosives.

Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and there was a cracking sound. Choking smoke curled from the green floor, engulfing Laina's scant shelter. She began to cough, violent, racking coughs that prevented her from moving from the place.

Before she could recover, an enormous demonic hand wrapped around her neck, lifting her up. Still coughing, her hands went to the fingers that gripped her, and her eyes widened as she saw the massive winged demon at the other end of the hand that held her. She realized the structure she'd been about to blow was some kind of teleporter. That asshole dwarf hadn't even seen fit to tell her.

The demon's ugly face twisted in a smile full of sharp teeth and impressive fangs. The glowing green eyes gazed with malicious glee into her own. "A prize!" it hissed in her language, then it spoke fel words that made her head hurt. A blast of some foul green energy lashed out from its other hand, and Laina lost consciousness.

She awoke to complete darkness, so black she wondered if she'd gone blind. She sat up suddenly, then groaned. Her head felt like it was about to explode. What happened? She groped for her pack for a light of some sort, and touched only her own unarmored hip. Where was her stuff? Where was her plate? She suddenly remembered the demon, the crushing grip on her neck, only her gorget allowing her continued breath.

"Awake, are we?" a voice drawled, somewhere nearby and in front of her. It was a man's voice, with a strange lilting accent and a lighter tone than she was used to.

"Who are you? Where am I? Why can't I see anything?" Laina demanded, looking about. She saw nothing but dark – no wait, there, two faintly glowing green spots. Eyes? Yes, they blinked.

"Right, you humans can't see worth a damn in the dark. Give me a moment." The voice said. Then it spoke arcane words, and a light flared into being. Laina blinked, squinting. In a few moments, her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.

She was in some kind of cell, with rough black stone walls. There was no door that she could see, but there was a small window of sorts on the wall to her left, filled with jagged barbed bars. Someone had apparently tested them, she could see old, dry blood flaking on them. She could see nothing but blackness beyond the window. In the corner of the cell to her left was a hole in the floor, slightly larger than her clenched fist. The stench of humanoid waste issued from it.

She was sitting on a hard stone bench, and there was a similar bench less than half her body-length in front of her. The benches were slightly longer than her body. On the bench across from her she saw the source of the light – there was a blood elf holding up a small magical light ball. He was wearing only a loincloth, and was lean and spare, showing signs of not having eaten properly in a while. He was paler than usual for blood elves, smudged and dirty, and what must have once been beautiful hair hung lank and disheveled, the colour indeterminate. He was a mess. There was a male troll curled in a fetal pose beside him on the bench, bruised, filthy and likewise clothed only in a loincloth.

The troll shuddered convulsively and covered his eyes, shouting something in another language. The elf spared the creature a sad glance, and said a few quick words in the same language the troll had spoken in. Lowering his hand, the light went out, plunging the meager cell once more into blackness. Laina gasped at the sudden darkness.

"I'm sorry human, but he's suffered enough as it is. He's fevered, the light hurts his eyes." The elf said quietly. "I think he'll die soon."

"What happened to him?" she asked hoarsly.

"The tender ministrations of our captors, I'm afraid." The elf's voice was filled with a bitter sarcasm.

"Where am I? What's going on?" Laina asked again.

"Hell, as far as I know. We're in neither Azeroth nor the Outlands. I think it might just be whatever place the demons came from originally. As for what's going on, it seems you've gotten yourself caught by the demons. Since it appears you still have your clothes and you haven't been brutally raped and tortured yet, I can only surmise that they must have had something more fun they wanted to play with before they got to you. Were you traveling with a paladin, perhaps? Or a warlock? They love those in particular." The bitter tone never left his voice.

"I wasn't traveling with anyone. No, wait. There was a warlock, but he wasn't my companion. He attacked the demon camp in the scrap field, I used his ruckus to get in unseen. I was supposed to blow up this thing, you see, only it turned out to be a teleporter. Something came through it before I could finish."

"You're lucky then. They won't get to you until they've finished with the warlock, and that'll be a few days."

"Wait a sec, I thought demons served warlocks." she stated, half in question.

"It seems demons pretend to serve warlocks. Once the tables are turned, it's not a pretty sight. They're cruel to all of us, but they have particular horrors saved up for THEM. It makes me VERY glad I chose the arcane path over the fel path, let me tell you."

Laina was silent for a moment. Then she sighed, and said in a voice that trembled despite her attempts to keep it steady, "I am in deep shit."

The elf laughed harshly, a humorless sound. "You don't know the half of it." She heard him moving around a bit on the bench, then he spoke again. "I'm going to sleep. You might want to do the same. I've only got a little energy for bread and water in the morning, and it vanishes after a time if it's not consumed. If you want some, you'd better be awake." With that, the cell was silent except for the loud and ragged breathing of the troll. Soon after, the elf's regular breaths indicated he was also asleep.

After a time, she too slept.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Rise and shine." The elf's voice and his hand gently shaking her shoulder startled Laina awake. She opened her eyes, and saw that there was light… of a sort. It was dim, and greenish. Everything in the cell had a somewhat sickly hue. It was cold, and she tried to suppress a shiver.

Seeing she was awake, the elf stepped backwards and plunked himself down on the bench. "I conjured breakfast." He said.

Laina sat up, feeling a little disoriented. The elf tossed something at her, and reflexively she moved to catch it. It was a cinnamon roll. Another object flew towards her, and she caught it with her other hand. It was a flask of water. "Thanks." She said to the elf, and bit into the roll.

"Good reflexes there." He commented. Laina didn't reply, she was too busy with the cinnamon roll. She felt ravenous – she didn't know how long she'd been imprisoned thus far, but she knew she hadn't eaten since several hours before she'd been captured. She ate every speck of the pastry, ignoring the blood elf, who was watching her with some degree of incredulity. "Do you want another?" he asked when she finished, sounding slightly impressed.

"If it's not a problem…" Her tentative inquiry was rewarded with another roll lobbed underhand, which she deftly caught.

"Enjoy it while you can," he said. When she looked up in alarm, he added quickly, "– I mean, you can get pretty sick of bread after a while that is." Laina glanced at the elf, who continued. Apparently he was feeling talkative. His voice was certainly a little more cheerful than the night before, even though there was a sarcastic edge to a lot of what he said.

"I know I can barely choke my share down anymore. You know, it seemed like a pretty good idea when I learned the spell – everyone I've ever traveled with always had an ample supply of food, but it was all preserved stuff. Jerky, bacon, cheese, stuff like that. I figured being able to conjure up the pride of any Silvermoon patisserie would be well received, and it was. But after … shit, months of the damn stuff, I don't ever want to see another bread product in my life. What the hell was I thinking…? I know spells for six different kinds of bread and four different pastries, and all I really want right now is a big fucking steak and maybe some vegetables. Yeah, I'd even eat those creepy little cabbage things right about now." He said.

"You mean bloodpetal sprouts?" Laina asked, finishing up her roll.

"Yeah, those things. I never understood the lengths some people will go to get the damn things. Off in the tar pits of Un-Goro, dodging shit that should have been extinct thousands of years ago… And then there's the devilsaurs. Don't get me started on those. How can a creature the size of Medivhs' tower be so damn sneaky?"

Laina stifled an amused snort at that. She'd wondered about the very same thing a time or two.

Two cinnamon rolls were not really enough. She found she was still hungry, and she looked hopefully at the elf. "I don't suppose I could have another?" she asked, hopefully.

Yet another roll was flung her way. She started on it, and the elf spoke. "How do you keep from being as big as an elekk?"

"It's not hard when you spend most of the waking day in forty pounds of plate. Try running in it sometime." She commented between bites. Finishing the roll, she uncorked the flask of water and took a drink, and was surprised to discover sparkling water. Not bad. She had a thought. "I don't suppose you learned how to conjure a good dwarven stout?" she asked, hopefully.

"Sorry, no. Just water. Many kinds of water. Apparently alcohol is difficult to conjure. You tend to end up with something fit only for cleaning the engines of gnomish devices. Water is safer." He said. "Besides, beer for breakfast? That just seems so…" his voice trailed off.

Laina shrugged. "It sounds like I'm not in for much fun. I figured if it got bad enough I could always drink myself into a stupor." She said.

"Somehow, I don't think they'd let you get away with that. They're very creative when it comes to making sure you suffer to the fullest extent possible." As he said this, his voice took on the bitterness from the night before. He stared straight ahead, not looking at her, or anything else. "Fear, pain, humiliation are an art form to them. I think they feed on it actually. Gods only know there's nothing else to eat, except for us. They wait until we're dead to do that, at least. I don't think it's out of any kind of mercy that they wait until we're dead, I suspect it's merely to capitalize on the amount of torment they can milk from us before we finally give up the ghost."

"They eat people?" Laina felt a bit ill.

"Take a look out the window. Nothing much grows in this place, I suspect. They eat their slaves, they eat each other, and they eat us when they can catch us. After they've killed us with their 'fun'."

Trying to stifle her growing sense of horror and despair, Laina got up and moved to the window. She gazed out between the jagged bars. A wasteland met her eyes, blackened ground cracked and parched, the charred remains of a few scrubby shrubs the only indication that anything had ever lived her. Above, the sky was a sickly mix of black and green bands traveling in nauseating patterns at high speed across the heavens. She saw no sun, only the all-pervasive green light from the tortured sky. Sickly lightning flashed across the sky, without any sign of rain, and off in the distance she could see a cloud of something she realized was a violent dust storm.

It was worse than any of the devastation in the Outlands. She realized that Shadowmoon Valley was becoming like this, and felt a stab of dread for the world she was clearly no longer in.

At that point the troll stirred, moaning feverishly and suddenly shouting something in another language. She turned from the window. The elf got up, holding a flask of water. He spoke to the troll in that other language, and held the water up to the troll's lips. The troll muttered a slurred refusal and batted the flask away, which flew out of the elf's hands and onto the floor, where it vanished. The elf pleaded with the troll, who merely curled into a tighter ball, covering his eyes with his arms. At this, the elf cursed, looking down bleakly. Laina saw grief and helpless frustration etched in his face. She realized that for all his sarcasm and bitterness, the elf still had a streak of compassion, of kindness.

Wordlessly, she returned to the spot on the bench that seemed have become hers. The elf was trembling, ignoring her completely, ignoring the troll, staring at the ground.

"Is he a friend of yours?" she asked suddenly. He looked up, a flicker of sorrow crossing his face, then he resumed his own spot on the bench across from hers.

"No. I don't even know his name. But I … have a hard time just sitting here watching the others die." His voice was soft, rent with an inner agony.

"How long have you been here?"

He was silent a moment, again staring off into space. Then he responded. "I think it's been about three months. It's hard to really know, I've kind of lost track of time." The sarcastic harshness was gone. Instead, the elf sounded bleak, empty.

"How come you're not dead yet?" she asked. He looked at her again, misery in his eyes.

"I keep the others alive. With the food and water, I mean. I can't heal… if I'd been a priest I'm sure they would have killed me already. Like I said, there's no food here. And even if there was, I'm not sure we would either want or be able to eat what the demons eat. Once they found out I was keeping the others fed and watered, they stopped molesting me." He looked away again. "Well, not entirely, but they stopped short of causing lasting harm to me. I… supposed I'm not really doing you guys a huge favour in keeping you alive." He sighed. "It's just more time for them to torment you after all, but damnit, I can't stand to see people die like that. And really, with the exception of the night-elf, no one's ever turned down the water or the food unless they were about to die." He glanced sadly at the troll.

"The night-elf?" she asked, trying to prevent silence. She didn't think she could tolerate the silence right now.

The elf laughed that harsh laugh from the night before. "He looked at me once, long enough to discover what I am. He never looked at me again, he refused to acknowledge my presence, didn't take the water or the food. It took him three days to die, and that death was not good. Even until the last, he pretended I didn't exist."

She had no words for that. The silence engulfed them, horror and despair weighing on her like an oppressive, crushing miasma.

Impulsively, she stood up. The elf gave her a startled look. Ignoring him, she started to stretch, then started to complete some of the unarmed battle-forms she had learned, the ones that could be completed in a small space.

"What are you doing?" asked the elf.

"Exercising." She grunted out the word amid some of the more intensive movements.

"Why?" amazing how the elf could pack such a wealth of sarcasm, bitterness, and futility into one word.

"Because if I have to move quickly, it'll help if I've done this. And I don't want to lose muscle mass." She stated between forms.

"So you'll be nice and flexible for when the demons bend you over and rape you? I'm sure they'll appreciate your efforts. And they'll probably appreciate your efforts at preserving your meat."

"It beats sitting here," was her reply.

"You might prefer to have sat there. It's cold now, but give it another hour and it'll be sweltering in here."

"I'll deal with that then." She grunted. After going through as many forms as she could think of, she finally stopped, and then lounged across the bench. The elf might just have been right, she was sweating and hot. "Got any more water?"

"Some." He passed her the flask, almost as if watching her exert herself had made _him _tired. She accepted it, uncorked it, and drained it in a few seconds.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

They sat in silence for a bit longer. Then Laina turned her head towards him and spoke. "It occurs to me that I don't even know who you are. If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to know the name of the person I'm going to be spending my time cooped up with."

At this the elf smiled, looking back at her. "It's not too much. I'm Jerlis. Jerlis Flamewick. Once upon a time, from Silvermoon City."

"I'm Laina. I had a last name once, but I got disowned. Not that my family exists anymore, they were in Tirisfal Glades. I'm pretty sure the plague got them all."

"I'd say it's a pleasure to meet you, Laina, but given the circumstances…" Jerlis's mouth twisted in an ironic smile. Laina chuckled dryly.

"Sorry about your family, by the way. My people have also suffered from the Scourge." He said.

"Don't be too sorry for them, they were really not nice people." She said.

Jerlis was in the process of opening his mouth to say something in reply, when part of the wall between their benches vanished in an instant.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The moment the door-shaped aperture in the wall vanished, Jerlis cringed, curling into a ball on his bench with his hands covering his neck. Laina twitched, startled at the sudden change. Before her mind could catch up to what was going on, the demon at the door reached into the room and grabbed her leg, the nearest part of her to the door, and dragged her off the bench and across the floor. She yelped as she was hoisted into the air by the demon, a wrathguard who topped ten feet easy.

Before she could really react, she was flung unceremoniously out of the room. She collided painfully with a wall on the other side of the corridor, which was lit with a spectral green glow. The hole in the wall to her cell had vanished somehow, she hadn't seen. The demon had turned its attention back to her. Grunting in pain, she attempted to pick herself up from the floor, instinct telling her to run. Before she could, the demon grabbed her by her tunic and lifted her up with one hand, brandishing a sword threateningly with another.

"Time to play, little mortal." It said in Common, pulling her face close to its own. She flinched away as it extended its tongue, reeking of carrion, and licked her cheek.

Down the long corridor, another demon, this one a terrorfiend, shouted something from yet another strange opening in the wall. The wrathguard who had her glared down the hall, then eyed her like a piece of meat. "Next time, I will come early, soft mortal, and have my entertainment with you first," it promised. Laina shuddered.

She was carried down the dark hall to another black-walled room, similarly lit by a source-less green light. Inside it were several different demons, all grinning with ghastly fanged mouths. With the exception of a lone succubus, they were all male. In the middle of the room was a rough stone altar. Directly behind it, a bored looking dreadlord lounged on a black throne. With a taloned hand, the dreadlord made a contemptuous beckoning gesture.

Laina was hurled to the ground before the altar. "Kneel." A masculine voice behind her demanded. Afraid of the consequences of disobedience and more than a little shaken by her treatment thus far and the grim promise of what was to come, she obeyed. She heard the succubus laugh. "A biddable child. Pity." The demoness said.

"Know that you are before Lord Kiazoch. Your continued existence depends on pleasing him," the demon continued. "But first, you will entertain _us_."

She remained kneeling. The succubus strode forward, standing between Laina and the altar. She was wielding a whip that had tiny, shining black blades braided into its length. "Stand." The succubus ordered. Aching from her previous impact with the wall, Laina's movements were slow. Too slow for the succubus, who lashed her whip across Laina's shoulders. The blades cut through her shirt and into the skin underneath. Laina hissed in pain. "Stand!" the succubus demanded again, louder. Laina struggled to obey, standing as quickly as she could.

"Strip!"

She fumbled with her clothing, pulling off her shirt clumsily, her fingers struggling with the ties to her breeches, fear making her nervous. The whip cracked again, down on the other shoulder. This time there was no cloth to cushion the effects, and Laina shrieked in pain.

"The rest of it!" snarled the succubus, raising her whip for another go. Hurriedly, she slid out of her smallclothes and undid the catch on her breastband.

"Next time, you will do this with grace, mortal, or you will feel the caress of my whip even more."

Ignoring the pain of the scourge-wounds and the blood trickling down her back, Laina stood before the assembled demons. She knew if she tried to flee she'd be dead or wounded within seconds, and if she lived she was likely to receive even greater punishment. She figured her best chances of making it out of this room alive were to cooperate as much as possible. Something told her the demons would enjoy it more if she were not cooperative, but that same sense told her that she would not.

"Begin," the dreadlord said in a disinterested tone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A cool and moist touch on one of her many cuts brought Laina back to awareness. She flinched and whimpered inadvertently, and the touch withdrew.

"I'm sorry, Laina. These must be cleaned, or you may take infection." She heard a voice she recognized… ah, right, Jerlis. She must not be dead just yet.

"Clean, with what?" she managed to gasp.

"_He_ must have liked you. When our captors tossed you back into the room, they tossed in an entire roll of netherweave bandages with you." There was no need to ask who _He _was. "I've got plenty of water at least. If it's not warm, at least it's clean. I don't think I can do anything for… the places where they hurt you inside, but I can clean the surface wounds. You've got many cuts all over." She could hear the rending pity and worry in his voice.

She sat up, hissing in pain as her body protested. She felt filthy and sore, in desperate need of a shower. It hurt to move, it hurt to think. Unbidden and unwelcome came the remembrances of the last time she was awake. With awful immediacy she remembered her treatment at the hands of the demonic horde, and… Kiazoth's terrible mind. She felt desolate, silent sobs wracking her. Jerlis sat facing her, one hand with bandages, the other with a flask of conjured water. He must have seen something in her face that brought his own traumatic memories back, for he flinched, and she saw an echo of her own suffering in his green eyes.

"Kiazoth did that to me too," he whispered hoarsely. Their gazes met for a moment, and for a moment they knew each other's suffering, and there was some comfort in shared grief and pain. Then his gaze dropped. "We should get you cleaned up and bandaged." He said. Laina nodded.

She tried not to gasp in pain as he tended to her wounds. The cold of the conjured water was a balm on her tender skin. Though it was no comparison to a real shower or bath, between his ministrations and the gentle healing magic infused in the bandages, she felt much better, and much cleaner. When he finished, last of the bandages dissipated as their magic was used up, Laina caught the elf mage's hand as he started to return to his spot, and looked him in the eyes.

"Thank you," she said.

Jerlis smiled a tight smile, and gave a little half bow. "I could do no less, Laina." He said, then handed her a scrunched up bundle of something soft with his other hand. Laina examined it, and was surprised to discover the tattered remains of her clothes.

"If you'll pardon me…" she started, and Jerlis politely averted his gaze as she dressed. She'd kind of expected that she'd be forced to spend the rest of her possibly short life naked, and she was a little amazed to discover that she was permitted her clothes back. Then she recalled the succubus's words… something about being faster next time… and shuddered.

Staring at the wall, Jerlis spoke to her. "Why do you have magic clothes?" His tone was somewhat incredulous.

"Self cleaning clothes that don't wear out are real handy when you're miles from a shower and weeks on the road," she stated dryly, finishing fastening her breeches. "How did you know they were magic?" she asked.

One of his long ears twitched, and he chanced a glance back at her. Seeing she was now sitting clothed and comfortable (more or less), he faced her again. "I'm a blood elf. We're addicted to magic. It's only natural that we can feel it when it's near." Which made sense, she thought.

"Jerlis, do you mind if I sleep? I feel awful." She said quietly, after a few silent moments.

"Of course. Do as you need." He sounded somewhat puzzled that she asked, but she would have felt rude just rolling over and passing out, especially after the kindness he had shown her. Her kind and his were supposed to be enemies, she knew, but right now she just couldn't think of him or the dying troll as enemies. They were fellow beings who also suffered at the hands of the demons, and that made them allies of a sort.

"Laina, wake up, it's only a dream!" Jerlis's voice accompanied a gentle shake of her shoulder. Disoriented from the nightmare, Laina screamed and lashed out in the darkness. Her arm connected with something soft and warm, and she heard a yelp of agony.

"What? Huh? Why can't I see?" She demanded, confused.

She heard someone gasping for breath, and a rasped reply, "Calm down, Laina. It was a dream. You can't see because it's dark. And you just hit me square in the—."

"—Sorry," she interrupted sheepishly.

Catching his breath, Jerlis spoke a little easier. "I supposed I should have known better than to wake you from a nightmare."

"Sorry…" she said again. "I don't suppose you could make a light?"

"I'd prefer not to. I don't think the troll will last longer, and I'd spare him the agony, if I could. I managed to get him to drink while you were away, but it was not enough."

Laina sighed. Then she thought of something. "Jerlis, how long have I been here?"

"Well if the light and dark cycles are any indication, this will be the third day. They dropped you in here during the middle of a 'day', you slept mostly through the dark until the next day. Then they took you…" his voice trailed off for a moment before continuing, "A few hours later they brought you back. I've never known anyone to be gone that long. I woke you up a little while later. It's night now."

"I figured that last part out, thanks," Laina said slightly sarcastically. She lay on the cold stone bench, hands under her head, staring off at the blackness above her. "Jerlis?" she began.

"Yes?"

"How did you end up here?"

He was silent for a moment, then she heard him take a deep breath. "Foolishness." He said. "I was accompanying an undead priest and a tauren hunter. We were on a mission in Shadowmoon. It sounded fairly simple, even fun – just go through this teleportation device, find some unattended machine, and gain control of a fel reaver. Do as much damage as we could, then get the hell out of there.

"Well the first part went more or less as planned. And we found the machine that allowed us to control the fel reaver alright. But we were having so much fun wreaking havoc with it that we neglected to post a sentry." The elf's voice dripped with self-hatred and recrimination. "If only one of us had thought. I should have thought of it. I'm supposed to be the smart one.

"But I didn't. And we were surprised. They knew what to target too, our first warning was when they hit the priest with a silence spell. They killed him before we realized what was going on, then they attacked me and the tauren. We fought, as much as we could, but we're no match for well armed, organized demons, not when they outnumbered us three to one and had the element of surprise. They caught us and brought us here, and then they gave us… well, a treatment similar to what you experienced.

"My tauren friend they didn't even wait to let die, they started eating him while he was still alive, after they'd finished molesting us. They forced me to watch." Jerlis's voice choked up, "Gethun did not deserve to die like that. It was terrible to watch.

"After that they put me in this cell. At that time there were two draenei, a male and a female. The female just cried and cried until they took her away one last time, but the male, he told me what I'd gotten myself into. I outlived them both. I've outlived everyone here so far." His voice was bleak. "You're the first who even asked. Maybe it's because they didn't break you first before they tossed you in here. I don't know. But Laina, thanks. You remind me that there is still a world out there, beyond the portal, where people talk to each other and laugh, and even exercise in the mornings." A hint of amusement crept into his voice at the last. "If it's not too horrible a tale, would you relate how you ended up here?" He asked.

Laina told him. When she mentioned the dwarf who gave her the mission, she heard him inhale.

"Dwarf, huh? Little bald guy, with coal-black skin and grey hair? Mouth full of gold teeth, and a scar over one eye, down in that skuzzy little bar in Lower City?" he asked suddenly.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"He's the one who gave Gethun, Laric and me the assignment to destroy the fel reaver."

Laina considered this for a moment. "Something doesn't seem right here."

"You're telling me, there's something foul about all of this. I think the little bastard is working for the light-be-damned demons. Yes, it fits." Jerlis said. "How elegant. Hire adventurers no one's going to miss, mercenaries who work for gold, or glory seekers. Send them off with inadequate instructions for a task that is seemingly worthwhile. Then tip off the demons that an attack is going to come. Should the adventurers somehow survive, well then no one will catch on to the façade. Should they fail, he gets rewarded by his demon masters. I wondered how he could offer so much gold."

"We walked right into a trap." Laina growled. "If I ever get out of here, the first thing I'm going to do is paint Shattrath red with that little fucker's blood."

Jerlis laughed bitterly. "You'll have to be content with haunting him, Laina. No one gets out of here alive.

Jerlis's harsh words seemed to put an end to the conversation. Laina lay in silence, until she finally drifted off to sleep again, this time mercifully free of nightmares.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When she next awoke, the troll was dying. In truth, he had been dying for a while, but now he was finally passing those last fel gates into oblivion. Laina awoke abruptly when the troll began to moan and thrash loudly in the small cell. It was light enough to see, she noted, as she sat up groggily. Jerlis was also stirring at the noise. The sight that greeted his eyes struck him, and in the dim green light Laina could see the pain on his face. How many people had he seen die in this cell?

"Is there anything that can be done for him?" Laina asked quietly, her words nearly drowned out by the troll's agonized moans.

"Nothing within our power, Laina. Trollish regeneration is amazing, but when the mind inside the body wants death, there isn't much that can be done." Jerlis commented sadly. "Were I a priest or paladin, perhaps I could do something. But were I a priest or paladin, I would have died long ago, I fear."

The troll gave a last final, powerful thrash, then lay still, bloodshot red eyes staring open into nothingness. Jerlis sighed sadly then rose, reaching over to gently close the eyes of the dead troll.

"I wish I knew his name so I could honor his bravery here." The elf said sadly. "Rest in peace, fellow mortal, may whatever the afterlife contains be a better prospect than _here_."

They were silent after that. Jerlis conjured water and some bread and gave it to her, but though they both drank the water, neither ate. Eventually the bread vanished from their hands, dissipating back into the nether.

It got lighter out, and with the light came the heat. She'd missed the worst of it the day before, having been 'entertained' during the hottest hours. But today, there was no escape from it. She felt exhausted by the heat. Fortunately, the troll was too soon dead to really smell bad, at least.

Sprawled out on the stone bench, she nevertheless started when the door appeared once more, the same wrathguard from before lunging at her from the opening. Careless claws grabbed the shoulder closest to the door, piercing her skin as he started to drag her out. Laina yelped in pain.

Before the wrathguard could drag her off, Jerlis spoke. "The troll's dead. This morning. Fresh." He said, his words terse and low. Laina looked up at the wrathguard, whose vicious grin and madness-tinged eyes had taken on a different sort of greed from the one she'd witnessed the day before. Apparently, the demons were as hungry as they were eager to abuse her. Hunger won, today.

"Do tell," the demon purred, dropping Laina abruptly. With a swift motion, he moved into the cell, grabbed the corpse of the troll, and left. Laina caught a glimpse of his naked backside as the wall reappeared, door vanishing as if it had never been.

"Why did you save me?" She asked Jerlis.

He was silent for a while, sitting curled on the bench with his back against the wall with the door, facing the wall with the barred window. Just as Laina had decided that he wasn't going to answer, the elf spoke. "I could do no more for him. I could do this one thing for you. It may only delay the inevitable, but maybe even a day or two free of abuse is worth it now."

She thought she understood. Something tickled at the back of her brain, and she considered it for a moment. The demon was unarmored, but it carried a sword – a thick, curve-bladed black sword, clearly a slashing weapon. It had held the weapon ready both times it came for her, but seemed somewhat clumsy with it. Laina considered that the demon was armed more for its effect on the prisoners, and the fact that most prisoners were not able to fight back probably ensured that it didn't get much practice.

"Jerlis, I have an idea." She said, and the elf met her eyes with a glimmer of hope.

Laina slept restlessly through the night. With the coming of the day she passed the time until the next unexpected visit restlessly, pacing back and forth in the cell. Jerlis watched her, eyeing her with a vague trepidation. He still wasn't so sure this gambit would work, but he'd finally admitted that it was better to try and fail than continue and die at the demons' whims. They had a plan, and there was a chance it might work. But in the meantime, Laina paced. Waiting was the worst.

"_Gnomish Mind-Healer? Backwards Convincement? Sounds like something a gnome would come up with." Jerlis had said._

"_That's what I thought when the gnome told me about it. I think it'll work, though. You can manage the slow spell?"_

_Jerlis had grimaced at that. "It's going to put my magical reserves dangerously low. This place doesn't have much accessible magic, you know."_

"_But you can do it?"_

"_Yes. Just give the signal."_

She thought she could rely on the wrathguard to come early, considering what he'd said the first day.

"That's getting really annoying," Jerlis said.

"I can't help it. I'm nervous. If I fuck this up, we die."

"And if we do well, we live. For the time being at least. But it's hard for me to meditate with you pacing like that, and I'm going to need all the mana I can get if we pull this off. Don't think for a moment that getting out of this cell is the last step. It's the first."

Laina sighed, then sat down on the bench. It was time to stop pacing anyway, it was starting to heat up now that it was full day. If things went well, she would need to be able to move quickly, and that would require not being exhausted ahead of time. Not to mention, Jerlis couldn't conjure water to replace what she would sweat out pacing; as he'd said, he needed all his mana.

After what seemed an eternity, the door finally appeared, the wrathguard making his customary lunge for Laina. She didn't have to fake the fear she felt, but instead of giving in to it, she harnessed it, channeling it with her will to fuel her performance.

"Please," she begged as the wrathguard grasped her, "Not in front of the elf!"

It seemed backwards convincement worked on lesser demons, though she had no doubt it wouldn't work on the dreadlord. The wrathguard stopped, mouth still twisted in a malicious grin, eyes glittering thoughtfully as it leered down at the human woman. "On your knees!" he barked, brandishing his thick curved sword at her threateningly.

"Noooo," moaned Laina, attempting to make it convincing. She was rewarded by a rough grasp on her shoulder pushing her to her knees, and the blade at her throat. She swallowed convulsively. Blade still at her neck, the demon yanked aside his loincloth.

"You know what to do, bitch." It snarled. The demon attached his sword to his belt, freeing his hands. Laina whimpered for good measure, hiding her triumph. Quickly, she tapped the floor behind her with her feet – the signal.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

She hear Jerlis muttering something, heard the demon grump out an incomprehensible. Jerlis's slowing spell hit the demon full on, and Laina slugged him square in the crotch, and reached for the sword. She got to it before the demon, and rolled backwards out of reach of the grasping claws, springing to her feet.

The stunned, slowed demon shrieked a curse in demonic, sounding distorted through the slow spell, and reached for Laina. Anticipating this move, she grabbed the grasping arm with her left hand, pulling him forward, using its own momentum and strength against it. As it stumbled towards her, she lashed towards its neck with the sword, using its own weight as a weapon. She danced aside as it came past, and whirled around, bringing the sword to bear for another attack.

Still slowed, the demon stumbled a few steps, recovered, and turned to face her. Laina was already moving, slashing down across its back with a powerful two-handed attack. _I could give my left thumb for a thrusting weapon right about now,_ she thought. The demon swung at her with a clawed hand – even unarmed it could still do damage, she remembered. She parried with her weapon and ducked.

Jerlis had not been idle during this, she noted, as the demon was once more slowed, this time by an icebolt. She heard the wrathguard's snarl of rage, and while it lunged at her, she rose, slicing upwards from crotch to neck, well inside its guard. The blade was sharp, and it did its job, but Laina did not escape unharmed. While she made her attack, her frigid enemy managed to rake its claws down her back. Ignoring the sudden pain, she dropped and rolled backwards again, taking note of what she'd managed to do to the demon so far. Light, but these were hardy creatures! The wounds she'd given it would have killed any mortal.

Nothing for it but more attacks, then. Laina parried the claws again, cutting into the demon's hands with the blade. She backed up, and when the demon lunged at her, she rushed it once more, batting aside its claws. Jerlis hit it with another icebolt. Once more inside its guard and heedless of the potential for damage to herself, she scaled the demon, counting on the ice to slow it enough for her to finish it off. Grabbing its shoulder with her free hand, she lashed with her blade deep across its throat. Gurgling, it clawed at her, and she let go, allowing herself to fall to the ground. She rolled slightly to the side as it stumbled, clutching at its neck.

Jerlis was standing on the bench she was rolled up against. He offered her a hand, and she took it, hearing him grunt in exertion as he helped her to her feet. The demon was falling forward, but she couldn't take the chance that it was finished just yet. She lifted a bare foot and pressed down on its backside, pushing it down. Using gravity and her momentum, she angled the blade and forced the tip through the ribs in its back. Though it was twitching on the ground, the demon did not rise again.

Adrenaline still surging through her, she released the sword, now firmly embedded in the wrathguard. She stood back, panting. "How bad did it get me?" she asked between breaths.

"Superficial, I think. I wish I'd saved some bandages." Jerlis said. He moved beside her, kneeling at the dying demon. Laina was about to ask what he was up to when he stood up, holding a strange device triumphantly.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Door." Was all he said. Turning towards her, he beckoned. "Come on, I don't think we have much time."

He didn't have to say that twice.

Once in the hallway, Jerlis fiddled with the device, and the door suddenly vanished. Laina was grateful that she was not standing in it, she didn't want to know what the consequences would have been.

"Which way?" she asked.

"I don't know, give me a moment," said Jerlis, then, "This way."

"But that leads to the torture room," Laina began.

"I sense magic, a lot of it, none of it… uh, moving." Jerlis said.

Laina took a few steps forward to follow the mage, who suddenly whirled around, pressing her against the wall.

"Wha—," began Laina, but Jerlis hurriedly shushed her.

"We're invisible. Don't move or make a sound." He whispered tensely in her ear. She froze, and heard the clop of hooves from down the hall ahead of them. Nervously, she watched as a terrorguard passed them, not noticing them. It was a full half a minute before she felt like she could breathe again.

"Ok," muttered Jerlis, letting her go.

She nodded, and he took her by the hand. Quickly, they crossed the hallway. She scanned the hallway nervously, allowing herself to be led, alert for any signs of demons. They walked a short distance, and he suddenly stopped.

"Here." He said. Placing her back against the wall, Laina used the cool stone to numb her wounds, which were beginning to ache, and kept a lookout. Jerlis fiddled with the device once more. "Aha," he said, and the wall in front of him disappeared. He gasped, then pulled her into the room, the door vanishing behind them. Laina too gasped, as she saw what he had seen.

Jerlis conjured a light, illuminating the room. It was full of treasure. Two enormous piles occupied most of the large room; one of weapons, the other of armor. The room was lit with multicoloured glows. There were piles of clothing, reagents, bags, just about everything an adventurer could ever want or need. On a shelf along one wall were potions of all sorts.

"Ugh…" moaned Jerlis, collapsing suddenly. He was convulsing on the floor.

"Jerlis!" she exclaimed.

"I need… magic…" he croaked. She looked around quickly, and spied among the potions a familiar blue bottle. She'd never had to use one, but she'd seen them before. Hurriedly, she grabbed it and pulled the stopper, handing it to the elf. Sensing more than seeing it, Jerlis put the bottle to his lips and drank. The convulsions stopped, and he lay on the floor gasping for a few more seconds.

"Thanks. Ironic to have that happen right upon entering a room _full_ of magic." He sat up.

Laina searched the shelf of potions, finding another familiar one. She uncorked it and downed it quickly, feeling the fiery pain in her back subside. Ah, healing potions, miraculous things.

"I don't know if it's irony or luck." She replied. Jerlis was getting up and looking around.

"I suspect we'll have a little while at least before they discover the dead wrathguard and come looking for us, and they're probably not going to look here first. Any sane being would have gone the other way, and they would have to assume we didn't know this was here."

They were alone in a room full of treasure, and safe, for the moment.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"We've got work to do, and I suspect we don't have a lot of time." Jerlis said, surveying the room. By the light, there was a lot of stuff here! "Let's get to it. See if you can find anything useful." Jerlis said, conjuring a bright light and letting it float in the air. Laina nodded.

Her armor was easy to find. It was sitting right on the top of the pile. She quickly separated her pieces from the pile and set them aside – she didn't want to wear them without any kind of padding. And while there were no doubt a large number of superior pieces among the discarded gear, she didn't want to take the chance on ill-fitting and unfamiliar armor, not this deep in enemy territory.

Jerlis was searching through the pile of cloth. "I don't see mine – there it is. Ugh, it's been almost destroyed." He said, lifting up a tattered red robe. Laina eyed it dubiously.

"Is there anything in there that's better than that?" she asked.

"Plenty," Jerlis said, "but—."

"—Take the best you can get. Ill-fitting cloth isn't as big a deal as ill-fitting plate, and you might be able to get more magical advantage out of it." She insisted.

"Point." He acknowledged, rummaging through the pile.

She'd found the weapon pile. At the sight, her lips curled in an avaricious grin, and a slight, delighted giggle escaped her lips. While she was rejecting the armor, there was no reason she should do so with the weapons. Again, her swords were on the top, she took them and put them aside. She also tried the weight and balance of several others; an impressive looking two-hander and a fine glaive made it to her 'keep' pile, as did an excellent bow. She was considering a vicious-looking double-bladed battle axe when she realized Jerlis was staring at her. She gave him a bloodthirsty smile.

"Can you carry all that?" He asked, incredulous.

"If my magic bags are here, certainly," she said cheerfully. "You can never have too many weapons!" Jerlis's answering look was clearly doubtful.

Having found her weapons and armor, she joined the elf at the pile of clothes. She didn't know what had happened to her clothes, and doubted they were still fit to use, but the idea of wearing armor without anything between metal and her skin was not appealing in the slightest. Quickly, she dug through the pile, settling rapidly on some breeches and a tunic that looked serviceable and close in fit. Jerlis was much more picky, he had several items that he was apparently deciding on. She turned to the bag pile and found a bounty of magic bags. She flung some at Jerlis, who caught them and looked at her in puzzlement.

"Choose later; wear one and stuff the rest in a bag." She said. He nodded, and shrugged into a gold-trimmed brown and black item with sinister-looking designs. The sight of her companion in a dress made her snicker. Jerlis glared.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

"Nice dress," she smirked.

"Robe. It's a robe." He had the slightly tired and disgruntled tone of someone who had made this argument before. Laina shrugged, and turned back to the pile of loot. She had discovered a veritable treasure trove of enchanting supplies, and was rapidly stuffing dusts, shards, and crystals into one of her empty bags. Jerlis was checking out the potions, herbs and reagents.

"Pity," he said, "there's absolutely no teleport or portal stones here."

"That'd be too easy, I think." She said ruefully.

"By the Light I've never seen such a variety of potions… I think I found something that may be useful in getting us out of here."

"Oh?" Laina looked up with interest. Jerlis was holding a bright red potion up.

"This is an Elixir of Dream Vision. It allows you to leave your body and explore, completely undetectable. I don't think even the d… dreadlord could detect me if I used this." He stumbled over the memory. Laina didn't blame him.

"How is that useful?"

"If we can remain undetected here while I take the potion, I can find us the best way out of here and maybe explore the surroundings."

She could see the benefit of that. She nodded.

"How are we going to remain undetected, though? They're bound to check this room out sooner or later."

"I think if we cover me with some cloth I'll be indistinguishable from the rest of the pile. However, I think you should stay awake to guard us – use this if the door appears. It's an invisibility potion." He held up another potion.

"How long does it last?" she asked.

"Not long, but perhaps long enough. You're the more capable fighter, at any rate, should it spot you."

Laina nodded. "Let's try it. You'd better put out that light, though."

Jerlis smiled. "Naturally."

Laina tried to stifle a yawn as she tried to stay alert. It wasn't easy in the darkness, not after the exertions of the previous hours. She was tired and sore. At least she wasn't comfortable enough to nod off, not in plate mail. Jerlis was still fast asleep, only the regular rise and fall of his chest indicating that he was alive at all. He'd been gone a while – how long, she didn't know. She was still clutching the invisibility potion, eyeing the place where the door would be with trepidation.

The door appeared, the demon in the entrance shadowy and backlit in green. Hurriedly, Laina downed the potion, hoping it would last alright. She saw its glowing green eyes scan the room, passing by her. Her heart felt like it froze in her chest. After a few seconds of cursory examination, the door and the demon vanished once more. She breathed a small sigh of relief.

After an interminable time, Jerlis finally stirred.

"I was starting to get worried." Laina said. "A demon just came by and investigated here."

"I saw. I followed him a short distance – he checked some other rooms. I don't think he knew we were here. Sorry for the delay." Jerlis said.

"What did you find?"

"More than I expected. I found a map."

"A map?"

"Well, kind of. It was a tactical map, like they have of battlefields, showing the deployments of troops and the like. It showed the location of several portals such as the one that I, and I'm assuming you, came through. One of them seems to be abandoned – it's only got a light patrol. I suggest we attempt to reach it – I believe they will assume that we would go for the nearest portal, or the one that we may remember being taken through."

"So it's not near?"

"No. It is several days away, through rough terrain at that. The map showed a path, but it was clearly not a commonly used one."

"First things first, how do we get out of here?"

Jerlis smiled grimly, "Luck, mostly. They've raised the alarm, by the way. The place is crawling with armed demons, all very agitated about something – they must have discovered your handiwork and our absence. I actually think it might be beneficial if we stayed here for a few hours. By then they should have certainly concluded that we have already left, and we might find the halls less guarded."

Laina considered that. "But what if another comes here to check again?"

Jerlis rose stiffly, stretching, and walked over to the shelf that contained the potions. His light winked back into existence as he searched. Then he returned to her with several more potions in hand, identical to the one she had taken before.

"I don't know who or what needed so many of these, but I'm certainly not complaining." He said, handing her a few. She considered them for a moment.

"Jerlis, I don't suppose you could keep a watch if I got some sleep? I'm exhausted." She said. He nodded.

"We'll cover you with cloth so you look less conspicuous." He said.

At that, Laina tried to make herself comfortable in the pile of discarded clothing. She'd slept in her plate before – it wasn't impossible, merely uncomfortable – she didn't want to take it off just in case she had to act immediately after waking. Her exhaustion won over the discomfort, and within minutes she was sleeping.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

She awoke after sleeping for a few hours. She didn't feel great, but she felt rested enough. At her stirring, Jerlis conjured a light.

"Thanks," she said, blinking a little.

"While you were asleep, one demon came by. I turned invisible and he did not detect me. He didn't give the room more than a cursory inspection. That was several hours ago, my guess is they've concluded that we've left the fortress and are now focusing their search outside." Jerlis said.

"Do you know how to get out of here?" Laina got up, stretched a bit to dispel sleep, and yawned briefly.

"I think so. I found a few ways out, but it's going to be tense. Lets take the rest of the invisibility potions, and I'm going to grab some mana potions. You might want to take one last look around and see if there's anything that might come in handy."

They both followed his advice. As Laina searched, she realized that there was actually a lot of very valuable stuff in the room. However, her belt had a limited space for magic bags, and even magic bags had a limit to their capacity. She couldn't take all of the treasure with her, and no doubt the demons would notice it if she did, but she could certainly bring some of the smaller pieces. She found the pile of jewelry and trinkets and began rapidly stuffing it into her bags.

"It doesn't seem like there's a scrap of food here at all," Jerlis said. "They must eat any food they find in our belongings. Oh well, my bread has kept us going this far. But I sure would have liked some meat. Even mystery meat seems appealing right now."

"No doubt." Laina said. Well, her bags were as full as she could get them. If they made it back alive, she and Jerlis would both be wealthy people. "Got everything you need?" She gave her bags one last arranging to ensure that her weapons would be the first thing at hand when she reached in, and walked over to her companion.

"Yes. Let's go." Jerlis replied. He fished around in one of his bags and pulled out the door opening device. Reaching a hand out to her, he extinguished the light and opened the door. She took the proffered hand, and let the elf lead her into the corridor. He had better eyesight in the dark than she, and hopefully knew the way. She was content to be led.

Together they made their way down the dark corridor, swiftly but cautiously. Laina moved as silently as she could in her armor; fortunately her gear was enchanted to emphasize strength and agility, so this wasn't as hard a feat as it could have been.

Several times, Jerlis stilled her and held her close, extending his magical invisibility over them both, while Laina froze and attempted utter silence, as demonic patrols walked by. Jerlis had to use a few precious mana potions from his limited supply. It was a tense journey through the dim halls, and she could only trust that he could lead them both out.

Finally, they reached the end of the treacherous maze of corridors – Jerlis had led them to one of several entrances to the dark stoned fortress – and the first real doors either of them had seen. He halted her.

"We have a problem." Jerlis said.

"What kind of problem?"

"On the other side of those doors there are likely to be demons. When I wandered this way in the dream vision, there were two guarding. I don't know how many there are now, but I'm certain that there are some. We can't sneak out – if we open the doors, the demons will know someone is here and search for us. I think we're going to have to fight our way out here."

"Shit," she hissed. "Two demons, huh? Let's hope they haven't stepped up the guard. I think I can take two, with you backing me up, but I don't know about more than that." From her bags, she drew her two swords, and did a quick check of her armor. "I'm ready," she said.

"I'm going to go invisible one more time. If I can get a few surprise hits off, we can use it to our advantage."

Laina nodded. Jerlis was far more vulnerable than she was.

Before her eyes, Jerlis vanished. The door opened up, and Laina charged out the open door for the freedom beyond. Sliding to a halt past the door, she whirled to face the guards, swords in hand.

It seemed luck was with them. There was only one demon, of the terrorfiend variety. The other guard must have been pulled to search for her and Jerlis. Laina smiled. The terrorfiend looked surprised for a moment at her sudden appearance, and then it charged her. Laina steadied herself, waiting for it. At the last moment she stepped aside, parrying the terrorfiend's heavy swing with one hand and delivering a slash of her own with the other. Her blow landed on its flank, slicing a shallow gash in its leather chest armor, but tearing through the area where the wing sail met its body.

The demon roared in rage and pain, and attempted to close on her once more. She ducked under its swing, but too late – claws grasped her cloak and pulled her upwards. The terrorfiend grinned at her and readied another swing with its massive sword – this one would not miss. Laina slashed at its chest, attempting to do as much damage as she could before it struck her.

Then it froze, ice rooting it to the spot. Jerlis had made his move. Sheathing her swords, she pried the frozen fingers away from her cloak and dropped to the ground, then renewed her attack on the demon. She knew it would be free from the ice in a matter of seconds, and those seconds allowed her but a brief window of opportunity. She pulled her glaive and lunged at the demon, attempting to slice under its armpit and slow the devastating swing of that sword. Metal met flesh and parted it; black demon blood splattered her armor. The frost started to flake away, and she rolled to the side and sprang to her feet.

It was moving again, but slower. Before it could recover its momentum, she charged it again, intending to use the reach of her glaive to reach its unarmored neck. She gritted her teeth and steeled herself… and then found herself running in the opposite direction, gibbering in terror as the demon lashed out with a psychic attack.

In a few seconds she recovered and turned to see the terrorfiend charging Jerlis. Blue light swirled around his hands, but before he could finish his cast, the demon reached him, and stomped. The light at her companion's hands dissipated and Jerlis reeled. Laina rushed towards the two combatants, angling her glaive for a piercing attack.

She struck right as the demon reached Jerlis. It grunted as the blade of her glaive penetrated its armor and slipped between its ribs, just as she had intended. She put her weight behind the thrust. She heard a meaty thwack and heard Jerlis hit the ground, and the demon turned abruptly, wrenching her hands from the handle of the glaive. She staggered back a few steps, drawing her two swords again.

The terrorfiend was moving slower now, and it had dropped its sword – her previous attack had rendered that arm useless. But it was still dangerous. She danced away from it, avoiding its slashing claw. Behind it, she saw Jerlis getting back to his feet, touching his shoulder with a wince. A part of her noted that he'd dislocated it. The rest of her focused on the demon. She could see the tip of her glaive protruding from its chest. Good, it was greatly weakened, and it wouldn't take much more to kill it.

She and the demon eyed each other for a moment, then she lunged first, swords bared. She was going to take a hit; there was no avoiding it; but if she was lucky, she'd kill the demon. With a snarled curse she leaped, swords crossed. She felt the demon claw at her armor, felt the sharp warm pain indicating it had gotten through, and ignored it, slashing open the demon's throat. It stumbled backwards, reeling. She dropped to the ground, panting, and backed away from it. She felt no real pain from the wound yet, that would come later.

A ball of fire arced up from Jerlis and landed square on the head of the demon, engulfing its head in flame. Laina couldn't help but wince at its howls of pain as it batted at the flames and clawed at its neck. A few seconds later, it sank to its knees, still howling, and fell forward. The impact pushed the glaive up, exposing steel threaded in black blood. The demon convulsed on the ground and was finally still. Laina walked up, freed her glaive, and tossed it aside.

"We need to get rid of the body." Jerlis said. He was still caressing his left shoulder. Under the smudges of dirt and blood, he was pale.

"We need to fix you shoulder first," Laina said. She pulled a piece of scrap cloth from her pack and handed it to the mage. "Bite this so you don't scream, and hold still."

Jerlis put the cloth in his mouth and steeled himself for the inevitable. Laina took hold of his arm and pulled. The mage made a muffled sound of pain through the cloth as his shoulder found its socket with a pop. He pulled the cloth out and spat, then rubbed his shoulder tenderly. "Thank you." Laina nodded in return, and used the cloth to clean her weapons, before tossing the blood-soaked rag on the body of the demon.

"Any other hurts?" She asked.

"I don't think so, but you're bleeding."

"Oh shit, right." She rummaged in her pack and found a spare bandage. She checked the wound and ensured it was superficial, and quickly applied the bandage. The soothing tingle of the magic felt good. "Anything else?"

"Just one thing." Red light flared around the mage's hands and then lashed out at the body, consuming it in flames. In moments nothing but ash remained, which drifted away in the hot wind. "Let's go. If we're lucky we can make it to the pass without further discovery."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

It seems they would be lucky today, after all. They evaded more patrols, using the shattered terrain to their advantage. Laina was glad that she'd gone with dark armor, and Jerlis's dark brown and gold choice was less conspicuous than some of the brightly coloured robes she'd seen on other mages. They darted between the jagged-edged boulders strewn across the plain, making their way to the high cliffs that loomed like an impenetrable wall in the distance. The sky was beginning to darken. Laina hoped they'd reach some kind of shelter soon, but she doubted anything like that existed.

"There's a pass in the cliff face, if you look carefully you'll see it." Jerlis said. She'd wondered, but she trusted the blood elf.

Eventually they reached the forbidding cliffs. The stone was black, like everything else on this damned and broken world. In the failing light, Jerlis led her to a passageway that was barely visible to her human eyes. Before long, they were in pitch darkness. She gripped the elf's hand tight, stumbling along after him on the broken and uneven ground.

"Jerlis, I can't see as well as you." She finally said.

"Oh… right. I think it's safe, the passage here is somewhat twisty. Let me just…" a flare of light made her blink at the sudden brightness. "Better?"

Laina gasped as she noticed that the pass was actually a thin ledge, no more than about four feet in width. To either side of her the cliffs towered, and on the right a chasm gaped. She had been stumbling all unknowing inches from death should she have tripped and fallen.

"Perhaps it would have been better to keep the light out." Jerlis sounded concerned at her visible distress.

"No, it's ok, I just… really don't like heights." Laina said. Jerlis looked back at her briefly and nodded.

"I'll keep the light going." He said.

They made their way down the twisting pass. The wind howled through the cleft, pelting them with grit and ash. Laina suppressed her fear and concentrated on putting one weary foot in front of the other. Her left hand was against the cliff side, steadying her walk. She tried not to think about the chasm to the right.

Finally, they reached a widening of the ledge. It wasn't much, six feet instead of four, but it might do. "We should rest here. We are both exhausted. I don't suspect we'll be found here – only someone who had seen the map would know of this passage, and they would have to assume that I had never known of it. My guess is they will be searching one of the portals we came through."

Laina nodded numbly, too exhausted to reply. Jerlis sat down, his back to the cliff. She slid next to him. Together, they huddled for warmth and comfort through the night, sleeping fitfully.

Morning brought more grit-laden wind, and the dim light from the sickly green sky twisting above them. Wordlessly, they got up, joints cracking from the long, cold night. Jerlis conjured water and croissants, giving Laina her share. She thanked him, and they ate and drank as they walked.

"How long is this pass?" Laina finally asked, after they had walked for several hours.

"Long. I think this whole area was once a plain, but the part that the fortress was on… fell somehow, or maybe the cliffs rose, I am unsure. If the map was any indication, this crack goes on for at least the rest of the day, then it should open up on another plain. At the pace we're making, I would say by nightfall." Jerlis replied.

"Nightfall. How far away is this unguarded portal?"

"Another day across the plain after the cliffs."

"At least we'll be far enough away that they will have either given up on us, or be looking elsewhere, I hope."

"At least." He replied.

They walked in silence for a while longer, before she finally spoke again. "Well, at least you're not as ugly as the demons. I could do worse for a travel companion."

"You're not too bad either." He said, not looking back. Laina noted his red ears and tried not to smile. "Although I think longer hair might flatter you. The black colour complements your eyes though. Once upon a time we had different colour eyes, and blue was prized then too. Nearly every one of my people has green eyes now. A consequence of fel energy. A mistake." He was babbling, and she knew it. It was kind of cute, actually.

"Short hair doesn't fall in my eyes when I'm fighting, or catch on my armor, or lump uncomfortably under my helmet." She said. "My father never let me cut it short. I have not had it longer than ear-length since I left my family."

"Why did you leave them?" he asked after a few minutes of walking.

"I was the spoiled brat of a noble family. We had a bit of land but not much wealth. My father arranged my marriage to a neighbor who was far wealthier. I was sixteen, he was thirty years older than me and known for lechery and cruelty – he'd already killed two wives, and still no heirs. Too diseased, I suppose. I ran to Lordaeron, lied about my age and my origins in order to enlist. When my father finally caught up with me, he was livid. He disowned me on the spot. I later fought against the Scourge, he contracted the plague, along with the rest of my family. I don't know if they managed to become Forsaken or if they're mindless Scourge. For all I know I might have even killed some of them during the war against the Scourge. I survived, went to Stormwind after all shit broke loose in Lordaeron and Arthas killed his father. Then the Dark Portal reopened and I came to the outlands, seeking glory and wealth."

"If they are Forsaken, I might be able to locate them for you, when we get back" Jerlis offered.

"If you like. Sometimes I wonder. My father's name was Hector Merewyth. I had a brother named Joseph; he was the closest to me of all my family members, the only one whose fate I really wish to know. My mother died shortly after my birth – I was the youngest."

They chatted idly as they walked, getting to know each other. Time seemed to flow a bit faster for it. Laina was able to forget the narrowness of the pass, and the long fall to the bottom of the chasm. Jerlis, she suspected, was naturally garrulous. She didn't mind.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The wind picked up and blew black grit into their faces. The hike up the trail grew more difficult as it started to wind upwards. Laina was far more able than Jerlis, for whom months of enforced idleness and poor nutrition had begun to take their toll. As the day dragged on, Jerlis became more and more exhausted. Laina started to worry about him; she suspected the only reason he had held out this long was due to the magical enhancements of his new gear. Eventually he stopped talking, too worn out and tired to continue a conversation.

She walked directly behind him then, allowing him to set the pace and ready for if he should falter. She hoped the end of this pass was soon near, for it was clear that Jerlis was not going to be able to continue much longer. Yet it wasn't the exhaustion that proved to be the most danger. The only warning Laina had was a slight crunching sound, then the elf stumbled as the ground started to crumble away from underneath him. With a sharp cry, Jerlis fell forward, sliding down the new scree into the chasm.

Shouting in alarm, Laina forgot her fear of heights, forgot the danger. She threw herself on the ground, ignoring the painful jarring of her cuirass. Quick as a cat she leaned over the ledge and reached down after the elf, grasping. Her gauntlet caught cloth, and she held tight. She grunted as the full weight of her companion tugged at her arm, and heard him make a sharp exclamation of pain.

"Jerlis, can you grab my arm?" she asked.

The elf looked up at her, meeting her eyes. "It's the same shoulder that was out before. I think it's gone out again. I don't know if I can get my other arm there. I also don't know how long my sleeve will hold." Despite the obvious pain in his voice and the gravity of the situation, Jerlis sounded calm.

"I'm going to try to pull you up. Are there any handholds or anything that you can use to take some weight off the sleeve?"

"Nothing. When the path crumbled it fell inward. There is nothing to hold on to."

"We'll have to do this slowly then. I'm sorry, it will hurt." Laina said, and began to lift. The effort was enormous. Her own arm and shoulder ached with the strain, but she continued to lift. Muscle and joints creaked and she gritted her teeth. As soon as he was close enough she reached down with her other hand, and grabbed his wrist. "I've got you now. Hold on." The strain was now shared with both arms and a little easier. Gingerly, trying not to look at the deep chasm, she inched her entire body backwards, pulling Jerlis up bit by bit. Every now and then he would gasp quietly as the jarring motion caused him pain.

As soon as he was able, Jerlis reached with his good hand for the lip of the ledge. After that, pulling him up onto the ledge was simple and fast. Laina pulled him clear of the gap in the path. They both fell against the uphill side of the cliff, panting and gasping. After taking a few seconds to recover their breath, Laina spoke, "We need to get your shoulder back in its socket."

Jerlis winced and nodded.

"Need something to bite?"

"I think I can manage. Just get it done quickly." He said. She did, and he shouted in pain. They sat together for a few minutes longer.

"Thanks." He said after taking a few moments to recover.

"I think the socket is damaged, that sometimes happens after you displace a joint. You'll need to see a healer about it if—when we get back to civilization." She said. He nodded.

"We should get going. I know I'm slowing us down now, but I really think we're nearing the end of this path. We will be able to rest soon." Jerlis said. They got up, and surveyed the damage.

It wasn't good. The path ahead now had a two foot gap. A small portion of it remained, about a foot wide, skirting the edge of the uphill cliff. Laina didn't trust it, it looked crumbly. They would have to jump. She knew she could make it – a two foot leap would be child's play; but in Jerlis's exhausted and weakened state, he might not be able to.

"I'm going to jump across and carry you." She said.

"I think I can—,"

"No. You are exhausted, and I am not willing to take the risk. We've come this far, and I don't want to lose you."

He looked at her then, realizing what she had only just allowed herself to admit – that she was developing feelings for this elf, this member of the Horde, supposedly an enemy. She saw in his strange eyes an echo of her own feelings.

"Ok." He said.

They got up. She picked him up, he put an arm around her neck to support and stabilize himself. "I feel ridiculous," he said.

"Just hold on, and don't let me look down. This is going to suck." She said. She took a few steps back, then charged forward, leaping. The jump took less than a second, but to Laina it felt like an eternity. They landed on the opposite side of the gap, and she took several rapid, struggling steps forward as she both felt and heard the ground start to give. Feeling panicked, she tried to run, fighting the scree. After a few desperate, terrifying seconds, she realized she was walking on sound stone. She came to a stop, trying not to hyperventilate.

"Can you put me down now?" Jerlis asked, breaking her spell of fear. She nodded, not trusting her voice, and let him down. "Are you ok?" the mage asked, looking at her doubtfully.

"Yes. Let's just get out of here. Please." She gasped.

Fortunately for the exhausted travelers, the incident with the crumbling ledge turned out to be the worst the pass had to offer. Fueled by adrenaline from the near disaster, they made their way through the winding pass. As the sky was darkening yet again, they finally saw the cliffs part, opening into a cracked and jagged plain. It seemed that Jerlis was right, at some time some force had lifted a section of land, causing the cliffs to separate this plain and the one the demons' fortress had been built on.

Laina stared out at the bleak landscape, mind dulled from exhaustion and the effort of keeping her fear of heights at bay all through the long walk. Jerlis gazed about with similar energy. Then something on the horizon caught his eye, and he cursed.

"What is it?" Laina asked.

"Look!" the elf pointed. Off in the distance, a dust storm rose, like a black wall.

"A dust storm." Laina stated, not understanding the problem.

"The dust storms here can strip your flesh from your bones. It's coming this way. We have to find shelter. You might survive, in that plate, but I'm almost certainly dead when it reaches us." Jerlis spoke, his voice low and worried. Laina realized he was right. They began scanning the terrain for shelter of any kind. The pass wouldn't do – it would merely act as a wind tunnel, concentrating the fury of the storm even further.

Suddenly, a flash of blue caught the corner of Laina's eye. She stifled an exclamation, turning to look towards the source.

"What is it?" Jerlis asked, coming beside her.

"I saw something – oh!" Laina walked along the edge of the cliff to her left. She walked about thirty yards, and then stopped, bending down. In the dirt was a glint of gold and blue – how strange! It was a piece of jewelry, a bracelet, of beaten gold and a rough cut sapphire. She picked it up, looking at it curiously, as Jerlis approached.

"What's that you got—?" Jerlis started to ask as he leaned against the cliff, then cut off suddenly as he fell through the solid looking face of the cliff. Laina stared in aghast disbelief at the sight of her friend's waist and feet sticking out of the cliff wall, and the rest of him vanished. The feet kicked, then the mage sat up, his top half reappearing in the wall.

"What the fuck?" Laina squawked, bewildered.

"An illusionary wall! But what is an illusionary wall doing here?" Jerlis said, more too himself than to her. He got up, turned and face the wall, and spoke a few words in magic. "It's old, too. Perhaps thousands of years old. The magic is not demonic either… no, indeed it feels more like… Draenei? What's it hiding I wonder?" The mage strode through the cliff face. Laina stood outside, still holding the bracelet, wondering what the hell just happened. After a few minutes, she heard Jerlis's voice from beyond the "wall", unmuffled and clear. "I believe we've just found shelter. Come on in, Laina. I think we're safe here."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Eyeing the cliff wall with doubt, Laina inched forward gingerly. She put out her hand to touch the cliff, fully expecting to feel stone. Instead, her gauntleted hand touched… nothing. Emboldened, she took a step forward. Suddenly she felt Jerlis's hand on hers, pulling her. She yelped and stumbled forward into the wall, her reflexes automatically steeling her for an impact which never came.

"You can open your eyes, you're through." Jerlis said, still gripping her hand. She'd instinctively closed her eyes, and now she opened them. The mage had a light ball out, allowing her to see.

They were in a cave. The mouth of the cave was the same black stone as the cliff, but a few yards in it grew lighter. There was a twisting passage lined with toothy protrusions. She could hear water somewhere beyond that passage, and the air was fresh and clean.

"This place is infused with magic." Jerlis stated, looking around.

Laina realized that she felt safe, relaxed. She turned to her companion. "I think we should go deeper in. I don't know what we've stumbled on, but it's clear that this cave doesn't intend us any harm. I don't know how a cave can have intentions, but this one… does." She said. She didn't know how she knew it, she just knew. She looked at the beaten gold bracelet in thought. Jerlis finally noticed the bangle, and came for a closer look.

"It's magical, but I can't tell the nature of the magic. However it is benign, this I am certain." He said. "Lets go in. I smell water."

Laina nodded, following the mage along the passage. She stared in wonder at as they walked, the cave was truly beautiful. After a short walk, the passage opened into a chamber, and they sight they saw took their breath away.

The chamber was huge. Stalactites and stalagmites grew from the floor and ceiling like multicoloured, fantastic sculptures. They glistened wetly. On the opposite side of the chamber a waterfall poured from a hole in the rock, forming a pool below, which flowed into a little stream and then disappeared into another hole. She realized the air was pleasantly warm, and what she had mistaken for mere mist was actually steam. By the pool there was a large flat area clear of the rocky protrusions that decorated the cave.

Elf and human walked forward to the poolside. Laina pulled off her gauntlet and knelt by the pool, dipping in a tentative hand. The water was warm, but not uncomfortably hot. It smelled similar to the hot springs in Winterspring, the ones that were supposedly so good for one's health. She cupped a small amount, bringing it to her lips for a taste. It had a mineral tang, too much to be drinkable. Jerlis's water was better. However…

"We've found some kind of natural hot spring. I wouldn't drink the water, but I think it's the right sort for bathing." She turned to the elf with a smile. At her words, Jerlis smiled wide.

"Thank the Light. I would have hated to die without ever having a bath again."

Laina laughed at that, and began doffing her plate.

The water was perfect, warm enough to soothe but not so hot as to scorch. Her armor and clothes on the smooth portion of the cave floor well away from the water, she sat on the edge of the pool in her underwear and dipped her legs in. Finding it good, she slid into the pool. She was pleased to discover that the water came up to her hips here. The floor of the pool got deeper as she approached the waterfall, until it was up to her chest. She sighed happily, and turned to see Jerlis shuck all but his skivvies and follow her into the pool. He had something in his hands.

"What's that you got there?" Laina asked.

"Soap!" Jerlis smiled. "I found some with the herbalism supplies. I thought it might come in handy."

A long soak in the hot spring, and a good wash restored both of their spirits. They left the water, returning to their scattered gear. A pile of various cloth gear from Jerlis's bags formed makeshift beds. Eventually they drifted off to sleep, safe, contented and warm in that blessing of a cave.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"_I think we are safe here, Ezeron." The words were in another language, but somehow, Laina understood them nontheless._

_She wasn't sure where her body was, or even what was going on. She seemed to be everywhere in the cave at once, looking down. The stalactites and stalagmites were much smaller, and the pool was much smaller, but the hot springs flowed. She could see two draenei entering the cave, a man and a woman. They were dressed in a style she'd never seen before, both in flowing robes that showed a lot of skin. The clothing looked as though it might have been fine once, now it was tattered and filthy. The wearers were not in much better shape. In the strange light she saw a familiar glint on the woman's wrist – a glint of gold and sapphire. _

"_Can we truly afford to rest, Mirina?" the male draenei, Ezeron, turned to his companion._

"_We cannot afford not to, my husband. We must have our strength if we are to reach Velen. Besides, we are both exhausted. Ezeron, if you cannot rest for your own sake, at rest for my sake. We have run for days over shattered ground to escape the Legion. We cannot run any longer, or we shall collapse."_

"_Mirina…" Ezeron reached to his wife, who melted into his embrace. The two draenei held each other in silence. Tears flowed down the cheeks of the woman. _

"_I am afraid, Ezeron. I fear we shall not survive this."_

_He held her tightly to him, caressing her back. The woman cried for a long time, and the man just held her, giving what comfort he could. Finally, she stopped crying, drained. She looked up at her mate, who pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss. Mirina shuddered, pressing against Ezeron._

_Through the eyes of the cave, Laina watched as the two draenei comforted each other. She did not have the option of looking away. Some part of her realized that the cave itself was showing her this, that the cave was alive. It welcomed and sheltered her and Jerlis, as it had welcomed and sheltered this draenei couple, thousands of years before. _

_With that realization, she woke._


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Laina's eyes flew open in the darkness. What a truly odd dream. She tried to sit up, but discovered that Jerlis was sprawled partway across her. He mumbled in his sleep at her movements, and snuggled up closer. Pinned under the elf, all she could really do was glance around. She saw nothing but the dark. After a few minutes, she slipped off into sleep again, this time dreamless.

When she next awoke, it was to the sound of Jerlis splashing in the water. She opened her eyes and sat up, able to see due to his conjured light.

Jerlis must have noticed her, because the splashing stopped for a moment.

"Good morning, Laina. There's some muffins off to your side if you're hungry." He said. She looked over to the muffins, and reached for one, shouting a muffled thank-you through a mouth full of muffin. It had berries in it, and she wondered how he'd managed that. Light knew they could use the fruit, scurvy was a real danger for him and would have been one for her if she'd stayed imprisoned much longer.

"Did you have a strange dream last night?" the mage asked from the water. Laina froze mid-muffin.

"About two draenei?" she asked.

"And the cave…?"

"You too, huh?"

"Laina, I think this cave is alive. Perhaps not in the conventional sense, but all the same… there's far more magic in this cave than there is out in that whole cracked plain. I think we're somewhere on the world the draenei originally came from, and for whatever reason, this cave chose to shelter us. You seeing that bracelet is no accident, nor was my falling through the illusion on the wall."

She thought for a moment. It made sense. She'd felt a wordless sense of welcome, of safety here. And the water was not corrupted, surprising in itself after the Burning Legion had thousands of years to destroy every speck of life on the world. Perhaps there was hope for this world.

"I think we should tell the Earthen Ring and the Cenarion Circle when we get back." she said.

"I agree."

Outside the cave, the air was dead and still after the dust storm. They had packed quickly and left, neither knowing what time it was or how much of the day they had lost. Judging by the heat, they'd missed the morning.

She put the bracelet where she had found it. She had no doubt that the demons would continue taking prisoners among the people of other worlds. Should some of them escape, perhaps they would find this place, and have shelter for the night.

Jerlis was scanning the horizon. "There, I see it. It was hidden last night by the dust storm, but I think we can make it to the portal before night falls." he said, pointing. Laina followed his gaze, and saw in the distance the top of a stone-linteled portal similar to the one they had came through to reach Outlands. It seemed to be in some valley or depression. Laina hoped their approach offered cover.

"We'd better be off." she replied. Wordlessly, he nodded, and they began the hard slog across the rough terrain. Laina kept her eyes peeled for any sign of patrol, but saw nothing. They walked for hours, the heat becoming almost unbearable in her armor. She was tempted to remove some of it, but kept it on, she didn't know what kind of threat might await them.

As they drew nearer, she noticed that it was in a crater, much like the one in the Blasted Land of Azeroth. There were deep gouges in the land up ahead, and plenty of boulders for cover. They arrived at the crest of the crater, and moved from boulder to boulder until they could get a good view of the depression below.

"There, I see a patrol. Only one, thank the Light." Jerlis pointed. Laina could see the patrol, a felhound and a felguard, sauntering lazily in a circle around the portal. They'd have to deal with the patrol, it seemed. She considered tactics. The felhound would prove troublesome for Jerlis with its magic-eating abilities. The felguard would hardly be a stroll through Stormwind's park, but at least the mage could keep it slowed and keep running until she had time to deal with it. They would have to maximize the advantage of surprise.

"Here's what I think we should do." she said, and explained her plan. Jerlis considered it for a moment, and then nodded.

"I see no better alternatives, Laina. We shall do as you suggest."

"There's boulders everywhere. If we can sneak down using them for cover until we get to the flattened area, and attack once they pass and their backs are to us, I think I can take that felhound out. It'll give you some range to work with on that felguard."

"I think I see a path down to the bottom which will keep us hidden."

"Lead on."

They made their way down the slope carefully, going from boulder to boulder along Jerlis's path. It was not easy going – there was a lot of debris underfoot. It took far longer than either would have expected, and the sky was starting to darken as they reached the bottom. Neither thought it was wise to camp the night so close to the patrol. They would have to make their move soon.

Finally, they reached the bottom. From behind the cover of a boulder, they watched the patrol as it neared. Laina thanked the still air, but would have been more thankful if they had been downwind. As the patrol passed, the felhound did not appear to scent them. The two fugitives breathed a quick sigh of relief, and prepared for the attack.

As the patrol turned its backs to them, Laina readied for her charge, then went. Her armor clattered, alerting the patrol, which turned towards her. _Too late…_ she thought, and reached the felhound. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. She had chosen the two-handed sword for this engagement, and she pulled the massive blade from her back, bringing it down on the creature with a vicious over-head slash. She connected with its flank, and was rewarded by a howl of rage and anguish as the creature turned to face her. Briefly, she noted ice crusting the felguard, which turned its attention from her to Jerlis, who had begun his own attack.

The felhound swiped at her with a massive paw, and she turned her blade to parry. She then brought the blade up in a diagonal slash, forcing the felhound backwards. Her follow-through, intended to be another powerful downward smash, was disrupted as the creature suddenly rushed her. With a grunt, she fell flat on her ass. She picked herself up quickly, expecting a follow up attack. Instead, she managed to notice the flash of shadow from the creature's tentacles as it turned its attention to Jerlis.

_That is NOT good,_ she thought. At this juncture, every second counted. She hoped her companion would be alright.

The black 'glow' of shadow flickered into existence again, but this time Laina was prepared. She closed the gap between her and the felhound and delivered a powerful kick to its ugly, eyeless face, stunning it from its spell. Before it could recover, she raised her sword high and angled the point downward. She put all her strength into the blow, focusing her concentration for this one, powerful attack. Bone crunched and black blood spilled out as she forced her blade through its vertebrae until the blade stuck in the black ground beneath them. She let go of the weapon and backed off, drawing her two swords.

The felhound was pinned to the ground by her blade. Its body thrashed in its death throes – it was dead, or near enough to it, but it wasn't quite convinced of the fact yet. She felt it was safe to leave it there, but made sure to slice off the spell-casting tentacles before she turned her attention to the felguard.

She turned just in time to see Jerlis flung backward by his opponent, which was wreathed in a rather lovely and improbable combination of frost and flame. The felguard started to rush the stunned mage, an attack that was guaranteed to do significant damage, if Laina didn't intervene. She charged.

She was the faster one. She hit the felguard with an audible impact, and heard it grunt as she knocked it to the ground. Ahead of her, she could hear Jerlis gasping as he got back to his feet. She paid no mind, instead focusing on a fast and furious attack on the felguard. The demon rolled away from her, and then turned to face her. She had done some damage while it was down, but as it turned towards her and started parrying with its two-hander, fewer of her attacks made it through its guard.

It was fully occupied in fending her attacks off, however. Jerlis took advantage of this, lobbing spell after powerful spell. Finally, the demon took one hit too many, and fell to its knees, and then flat on its face. Laina backed off as the dying demon was engulfed in flame as Jerlis cast one final, devastating spell.

She was out of breath and sweating profusely in her armor, but she didn't care. Jerlis was also breathing hard, and shaking. Laina saw him pull a blue flask from one of his pouches. With shaking hands, he pulled the stopper and downed the potion. After a few seconds, his shaking ceased. The battle must have been particularly draining. Spending the night in the cave had been a good thing; the mage had commented earlier that it had fully replenished his magical reserves. Enough for this battle, but it must have been a near thing.

"We did it." he gasped.

With effort, she retrieved her sword from the corpse of the felguard, which had stopped moving. As they approached the portal, she cleaned her weapons and put them back in their places. Together, she and Jerlis climbed the stone ledge to stand on the threshold of the portal.

They gazed up at the massive edifice. Jerlis started swearing, and Laina sighed. The portal they had struggled so hard to reach was… empty.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Now what? Can you reactivate it?" Laina asked

Jerlis gave one sharp, sarcastic laugh. "It took the focused efforts of Gul'dan and all his warlocks, and Medivh to open the original portal in our world. It took Kazzak using a relic to re-open it. I am no Medivh, and certainly no Kazzak. If I had access to enough power I could _maybe_ do it; trying it alone without extra power would not only kill me, but fail anyway." The old bitterness had returned to the elf's voice. To come so far only to fail… it was painful for both of them.

Suddenly, Laina remembered the bags full of enchanting supplies. As an enchanter, she knew such things were basically magical energy concentrated into a solid form. Jerlis was a blood elf, able to draw magic from other sources. Maybe he could use the dusts, essences and crystals to draw energy from. It would take a lot… but she had a lot. She pulled one of the bags from her belt and started emptying it on the ground.

"What are you doing—?" Jerlis exclaimed, eyes widening at the ever-growing pile of stuff on the stone.

"This is basically magic, right? Can you use it to open the gate?" she shook the last of the dust from the bag and glanced at her companion. The elf had a thoughtful look. He paused for a moment, considering the pile of stuff.

"I think I might be able to. Do you have anymore?" he said after a moment. Laina nodded and began emptying out a second bag. Soon there were two piles of dust. She tried not to think about how many thousands of gold she was about to see vanish – no amount of riches would be worth anything to her if she was not back in civilization to use it. Jerlis concentrated on the pile. "Just a little bit more, I think." he said.

"I have no more in my bags." Laina said.

"I have none in mine – I'm an alchemist, I'm afraid." Jerlis sighed.

"Oh that's no problem. I'm an enchanter. That's why I grabbed all this stuff." she said. Jerlis gave her a thoughtful look, and then started pulling robes out of his bags – the robes he had grabbed when he wasn't able to make up his mind, the robes that had made their bed in the cave… Laina saw the lengths of cloth emerge from the bag and began laughing. He handed her robe after robe, and as darkness surrounded them, the only light was the sparkle of dusts, essences and crystals as they flashed into existence in her hands.

Finally, the pile was substantial enough that Jerlis deemed it safe to attempt. Laina watched as the mage stood at the threshold of the gate and chanted. Pure arcane energy gathered around his hands, visible as blue light which began to grow, to sheath his arms and chest, until it enveloped his entire form in an incandescent glow. She watched as the pile of enchanting supplies visibly diminished as dusts, essences and shards flared brightly before evaporating into nothingness, the lower quality supplies vanishing first. Soon there was nothing but void crystals scattered on the ground, far more than she had ever seen together in her life.

Jerlis's voice rose in pitch and volume as the void crystals began to wink out, one by one. Within the portal tiny specks of multicoloured light began to wheel and grow. As crystals flashed out of existence, the specks became a rippling curtain which was slowly filling the stone door. She saw the dwindling pile of crystals and realized he was not going to make it. Frantically she dug through her pouches, looking for something to disenchant. The jewelry! She pulled rings and trinkets from her pouch and rapidly started focusing, adding to the vanishing pile as fast as she could. In some cases, no sooner had she finished disenchanting than the substance vanished from her hands.

The portal had nearly filled the doorway, but it still flapped and fluctuated erratically. The last crystal vanished from the ground. Jerlis cried out and gasped, as though his breath was being pulled from his body. The light around him was sucked, visibly, into the portal. Her hands now empty, Laina was able to catch the mage as he fell forward, unconscious or dead – she could not yet tell. The portal shivered once and then held steady, swirling and solid-looking like the one they had both come through to reach the Outlands.

She wasted exactly one second to gape at the portal, then scooped up the mage. Dully, she noted that Jerlis felt too light – this had taken much more out of him than either had expected. No time to think – she dashed through the portal. They were engulfed in the swirling chaos…

For what seemed like eternity, there was nothingness. Then in an instant, they had reappeared… somewhere. Laina tumbled through, shielding the body of her companion with her own, and rolled to a stop. As she gazed upwards, the curtain of energy that made up the portal rippled, then vanished. Through the empty stone frame she saw the star-spangled, energy twisted sky of the Outlands. A breeze ruffled her hair and whistled through the stone door. They had made it.

Laina checked her companion. Jerlis still breathed, but he seemed terribly drawn and pale. He was unconscious. She didn't want to chance a mana potion when he wasn't able to swallow it properly, so she dug through her packs for one last item to disenchant. There was still some jewelry there… she found a piece that her enchanter's instincts suggested might yield a void crystal, and disenchanted it. Lucky! There were two. She placed on in each of the unconscious blood elf's hands.

After a short time, the first crystal flashed out of existence, and then after a longer time, the second followed. She continued to put enchanting supplies in his hands until finally, he held a shard and it never vanished. It seemed he was truly sleeping, now, rather than unconscious. She finally turned from her companion to survey her surroundings. She stood up…

And sat down nerveless as she realized they were floating on a grass-covered section of turf, high above western Nagrand. So high, in fact, she could barely make out birds below her, and there was a cloud drifting nearby… Laina suppressed her terror. She sat on the stone beside Jerlis, trying not to think of the height, trying not to notice the gentle rocking and slow rotation of the piece of terrain suspended high above the land. Trying not to think of the impact of her body on the ground far below. She curled up beside Jerlis, hugging herself.

Eventually his eyes fluttered open, and he groaned, coming to awareness. He stirred, and sat up, leaning on her. She didn't mind, she felt a little more secure touching him.

"I feel like I've been hit by a bull clefthoof at full tilt. What happened?" the elf asked, rubbing his forehead. He looked around. "Where are we?"

"You got the portal open. We're in west Nagrand somewhere. _Very_ high up." she replied.

He looked uncomprehending for a moment, mouthing 'portal', then remembrance struck him. "By the Light, I'm alive. We did it Laina!" He looked for a moment as though he was about to get up, then seemed to think better of it. "I hurt everywhere." he said.

"I think it nearly killed you. You looked like a husk when we came out of the portal, and you were out cold. I put some enchanting stuff in your hands and eventually they disappeared, and you were sleeping more normally then."

"Thank you." he continued to massage his forehead, eyes shut. He was leaning up closer to Laina, and she noticed he was shaking slightly. It was a little cold up here, especially with the slight but insistent wind, but she was afraid to move around too much.

"Um… Jerlis… How are we going to get down? When I said we're high up, I wasn't kidding. What if we're stuck up here?" Laina's repressed panic was starting to leak out at the end of her statement.

Jerlis fished around in his bags and pulled out a handful of feathers. "No worries, Laina. I can get us down."

"How?" she yelped.

The mage looked at her, and looked surprised at the naked terror on her face. She truly _did_ fear heights. It was at odds with her tough and fearless demeanor, but then phobias were rarely rational.

He held up a feather. "Slow fall." At that, Laina fainted.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Cold water splashing on her face roused her. She sputtered and sat up.

"Oh good. I got a little worried when you fell over." Jerlis said. "I conjured some water." he held up the flask. Laina took it from him, and drained it, then gasped for air.

"Please tell me you have another way down than… that." she said.

"Sorry. Unless you got a gryphon or something hidden somewhere in your magic bags."

She had to snort at that. Gryphon. She avoided flying if at all possible.

"No? Then it'll have to be my way." Jerlis stood up, and walked off the stone and onto the grass, approaching the edge of the chunk of flying ground. Laina tried to quell the fear that surged inside her as her companion gazed over the edge. "I think I see Halaa. Too far away to see what colours it's flying today. We're a few days away at any rate. We've got a long walk ahead of us." Jerlis rambled.

"Get away from the edge, please…" Laina whimpered. Jerlis looked back at her, then wandered over to the erstwhile portal.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked. "You should probably put your plate in your magic bags. The less weight, the better." She shuddered.

"There isn't any other way down, is there?" she asked.

"Not unless you want to wait up here while I go get help. Assuming I could get help. Our people are at war with each other, after all."

Laina realized that was probably not viable. She'd starve up here, or dehydrate, without Jerlis's magic food and water. With a sigh, she began to strip off her armor, putting each piece in her magic bag. Finally she was down to the padded clothes she wore under the armor.

"Good enough. Are you ready?" Jerlis asked.

"No, but let's get this over with. If we wait around here until I'm ready, we'll both be dead of old age." she said, standing. Jerlis led her off the portal stone and near the edge. "What do I do?" she asked.

"Hold me close." Jerlis said, and then glared at her when she chuckled. The green light from his eyes flickered as he rolled them. "The magic will extend to you as long as you are in close contact with me. Normally both this and invisibility are spells I can only cast on myself. However it seems that is not the case with you."

"You mean this might not even work on me?" Laina blanched.

"That is _not_ what I said!" Jerlis sighed.

"But you just said…"

"You'll have to trust me Laina. I know what I'm doing. Let's go."

Gingerly, she took his hand. He pulled her tight to him, and she put her arms around him. She realized that the top of her head only came up to his chin. It was an absurd thing to notice, when she could be plunging to her death in mere moments. Her mind was a jumble of disjointed thoughts as she attempted to stave off panic. "Okay," she said, "let's do this before I lose my nerve completely shall we?"

She felt Jerlis shift, hold something up, and mutter a quick word, smoke billowing from their feet. Then he put his arms around her. All of a sudden there was a strange sound, and they were not standing on the ground. Laina yelped as she noted there was nothing under her feet but air, and clutched tighter to the mage.

"Relax. We're floating down. See? You can't even feel it. It's just like standing." Jerlis said.

She tried to calm her pounding heart and rapid breath. She was very close to panic.

"Close your eyes." Jerlis suggested. She did so. In a few moments, the panic subsided. He was right, it felt just like standing. If she kept her eyes closed, she could pretend… unlike the chasm, this was one time where she would rather NOT be aware of the distance to the ground. Unlike the chasm, this was nothing she could prevent by seeing it coming.

At first, it wasn't so bad. Then, she felt her stomach flip-flop… Oh… shit… no…

"Jerliiiiiiis!" she hissed, eyes flying open. Below she could see the terrain of Nagrand approaching much faster than she desired. Absolute terror gripped her.

Jerlis fumbled with something. "Oops…" she heard.

"Don't say oops!" she squawked.

"Lost a feather – hold on a sec… here we go." The mage muttered a word and a puff of smoke surrounded them, and then they were falling slower again.

"Please don't do that again."

"Relax, Laina. We're still alive, aren't we?" the elf's tone was full of dry amusement. She wanted to punch him, but was afraid she might disrupt his spells. She squeezed her eyes shut again.

Laina hated feeling like such a scared child. She hated having no control over whether she lived or died. It was hard putting her faith in another person, in the face of her deepest fear. But she had to trust that the mage with whom she had escaped the fel clutches of demons on a devastated world, against all odds. Without each other, they would have never made it this far – either one of them would have died or been recaptured at some point or another.

Periodically, Jerlis would mutter his spell. There were no more slips. After what seemed like an eternity, he told her to open her eyes. Steeling herself, she did, and saw the ground just a few feet away. She braced herself, but they drifted to a stop on the green grass of Nagrand, gentle as a feather.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Shakily, Laina released her vice-grip on Jerlis. She stumbled backwards and sat with a thud on the turf, then flopped flat on her back, fingers twined tightly with the grass. Her eyes grew glassy and her face twisted in a manic grin.

"Laina? Are you OK?" Jerlis leaned over her, red hair dangling in her face.

"Yeah," she said, "never better." She dug her fingers in the dirt. Jerlis looked doubtful. "Just give me a few minutes." She said. His face disappeared from her view as he straightened up. She stared upwards at the stars, focusing on the feel of the ground beneath her. Safe, safe back in the outlands. Demons and chasms and weird green skies and portals that nearly kill Jerlis and falls that never end… were all safely behind her now. She breathed deeply of the untainted air. It was _good_ to be back.

Finally, she decided it was time to get up. They still had to get back to their respective people. With a deep breathe, she rose from the grass, brushing off stray blades. "Let's get going," she said. Jerlis nodded. "Any ideas?" she started to re-don her armor as Jerlis spoke.

"I don't know who has Halaa today. Let's see if we can get close enough to see the flag, and then make our decision. Whoever can, should go through Halaa." Jerlis suggested.

"Sounds good to me." she said. In a few moments she was armored again, and ready to go. Together they set off eastward.

As the sun rose, they could make out smoke on the horizon – the still smouldering ruins of Sunspring Post. From there, they should be able to see the flags of Halaa. It should be an easy thing to avoid the Broken who wandered the ruin.

They walked for most of the day. It was wonderful to feel grass underfoot rather than cinders. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the sun was shining warmly, and though they were both bone tired, the sun overhead gave them endurance.

By the time the sun had started to set, they had nearly reached Sunspring. It was too dark to see across the horizon to Halaa, and neither wanted to mess with the Murkblood at the village. They made a little camp near the lake, and Laina cooked a rabbit she had caught on their trek across the plains. Jerlis had gathered some plants he swore were edible and even tasty, and they had a decent meal for the first time in ages. True, it was a little rustic, and certainly the comforts of civilization were missing, but after their ordeal, they both swore it was the best thing they'd ever tasted.

They awoke to thick fog, which cleared shortly after dawn came to sear it away. Across the lake, they could see Halaa, shining in the early morning light. Proudly flapping above the spires was the Horde flag, clear as the day.

_Well, I guess I'm taking the long road,_ she thought. She turned to the mage and clapped him on the arm. "Looks like it's your people in control today. I get to walk." She smiled at the elf. "Good luck, Jerlis. I won't say I'm pleased to have been in the situation we were in, but for what it's worth, I'm glad to have met you." She said, quietly.

Jerlis was quiet for a moment, then he spoke, earnest eyes on her face. "For what it's worth," he repeated her words, "I am pleased to have met you too. I hope our blades never cross, Laina." He said, his voice also quiet.

For a brief moment, she wondered what it might have been like, if his people had joined the Alliance instead of the Horde. She might have pursued a relationship with him, he was a decent sort. But their people were enemies. Such a path was not meant for them.

Whether he shared her thoughts, she didn't know, but regret seemed to tinge his fel-green eyes as well. He returned the shoulder clap, and then turned towards the path to Halaa. She watched him walk for a short while, before turning to her own long, dusty path to Telaar. Who knew, maybe she'd see him in Shattrath, and maybe they could get a little revenge on the dwarf who set them up.

~fin


End file.
